Delays and cancellations create difficulties for tourists returning to air travel after two years
UK travelers are resigned to flight cancellations and long queues on the busiest weekend of air traffic so far this year. A sum of factors that disturb the world economy after the reduction of restrictions caused by Covid is also limiting the recovery of two sectors – airlines and tourism – that suffered many losses during the pandemic.
The British media publish the daily accounting of canceled flights by British Airways and EasyJet as a measure of the disorder. At noon this Thursday, BA had canceled 32 flights and EJ, 45. These are usual figures since last weekend and, added to those of transatlantic lines or to the Pacific, affect some 15,000 passengers every day.
BA, part of the IAG group that includes Iberia, is again experiencing problems with its IT systems, but the first factor blamed for the current disruptions is a lack of staff. Airports and airlines cut their staff in the last two years as a result of the reduction in passengers (close to 80% in the Spanish registry of entries from abroad in 2019, for example).
The recovery is, in the British case, sudden. Last Christmas the country lived under strict restrictions. Companies would not have anticipated the rapid recovery in demand well in advance and, as has happened in the hospitality sector, the departure of employees from the European Union in the United Kingdom and the search by those laid off for jobs that offer better quality of life and more attractive salaries, has left a trail of vacancies that cannot be filled in the short term.
oversights
New hires have to be trained and airport and airline workers have to go through a security filter. The mayor of the Manchester region, Andy Burnham, has urged the government body that approves the candidates to speed up the procedure, because, in the absence of staff, the extraordinary queues for the baggage and passenger scanning channel result in passengers missing the plane.
A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has pointed to another factor, also mentioned by other professionals in the sector. The lack of practice after two years of not traveling would have erased from the memory of many passengers the way to do security procedures, slowing down an already very slow flow of passengers.
This Saturday the highest level of departures and arrivals of tourists is expected at British airports, plus a high number of returns from those who have enjoyed their vacations this week, in which the Easter break began in many schools. Heathrow and Gatwick airports are the most affected around London. Airlines recommend arriving at airports earlier.
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